.13" Aguas Zarcas Chondrite Meteorite Fragment - 2019 Witnessed Fall

Shortly after 9:00 PM on April 23, 2019, a fireball lit up the sky over the town of Aguas Zarcas in central Costa Rica. The fireball then exploded, showering the area in meteorite fragments. Fragments even crashed into a doghouse! It shattered into hundreds of smaller fusion-crusted stones upon entry, mostly into angular pieces, though some oriented pieces have also been found. Six days after it fell, the area got rain: because so much was collected before and after the rain, scientists now have clear examples of what rain can do to fusion crusts on fresh meteorites. About 27 kilograms in total have been recovered.

Aguas Zarcas is classified as a CM chondrite, a rare kind of chondrite with fine-grained chondrules and matrices, as well as abundant hydrated minerals. It is highly brecciated, indicating a highly impacted parent body shaped by constant pummeling and accretion of asteroidal material. Its composition is similar to the famous Murchison meteorite from Australia. Aguas Zarcas even contains organic compounds, including sugar alcohols, carboxylic acids, and other hydrocarbons!

This meteorite is highly prized for both its rarity and scientific value: take home this astronomical find today!

Hammer stones are the names given to meteorite fragments that hit man-made objects, animals, or people when they fall. Hammer stones are often identified by the scuffed fusion crusts that can contain traces of paint, rubble, or other materials from the objects they hit. Because they are so rare, they are valued collectors' items. Often the items hammer stones hit go up in value, just be being damaged by a meteorite!

About Chondrites

A chondrite is a stony (non-metallic) meteorite that has not been modified by either melting or differentiation of the parent body. Chondrites are formed when various types of dust and small grains in the early Solar System accreted to form primitive asteroids. Some such bodies are captured in the planet’s gravity well and pulled to the surface. They are by far the most common type of meteorite, representing about 86 percent of all meteorites that have fallen to Earth.

Prominent among the components present in chondrites are the enigmatic chondrules, millimeter-sized spherical objects that originated as freely floating, molten or partially molten droplets in space; most chondrules are rich in the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene. Chondrites also contain particles of various metals such as nickel, iron, and aluminum. These formed at the very beginning of the solar system and aggregated over time: they are the oldest rocks known on Earth!

Chondrites are divided into about fifteen distinct groups on the basis of their mineralogy, bulk chemical composition, and oxygen isotope compositions. The various chondrite groups likely originated on separate asteroids or groups of related asteroids. Each chondrite group has a distinctive mixture of chondrules, refractory inclusions, matrix (dust), characteristic chondrule sizes, and other components. Other ways of classifying chondrites include weathering and shock. The L chondrite group is the most common of these.